


Sabbath Chicken

by Overthinker



Series: Sartieverse [2]
Category: Glee
Genre: Agnostic Artie, Atheist Kurt, Episode: s02e03 Grilled Cheesus, Gen, Jewish Artie, Kurt/Artie friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-29
Updated: 2014-03-29
Packaged: 2018-01-17 10:41:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1384561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Overthinker/pseuds/Overthinker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Artie wanders through the hospital waiting for his parents to get off work, he comes across Kurt, who is sitting outside his dad's hospital room. Artie greets him, and Kurt's response, after a week of prayers from Glee club members, starts an interesting, if short, discussion between the two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sabbath Chicken

**Author's Note:**

> Grilled Cheesus (2x03). Artie, who's on the football team but who can't let his parents know he's on the football team, went with Sam to the ER after Sam dislocated his shoulder in the game. He leaves the ER after Sam is called in for examination. (Part of a series I wrote on Sartie (Sam/Artie) - but this story has little to do with Sartie.)

After a second, Artie realized he should probably get out of his football clothing before going and waiting for his parents. He found himself humming a merry tune as he rolled through the corridors, now just in a grey t-shirt and his shiny red shorts.

He still had an hour before he needed to meet his parents, so he texted them, saying he was at the hospital and to text him when they were ready to go -  and then decided to take the long way. He went through every corridor he was allowed in. Maternity – he took a second to peer at the newborn babies; bones – he passed a lot of people with casts; and then he got to cardiology. He saw Kurt sitting outside one of the rooms.

“Hey,” he said, slowing to a halt in front of his fellow choir member.

Kurt looked up. “Oh,” he said. “Hey, Artie. Are you here to pray for my dad too?” He seemed miffed.

“No,” Artie said gently, and smiled. “Actually I’m on my way to see my parents.”

“Oh,” Kurt said, sitting up straighter. “Are they okay?”

“Yeah,” Artie said, realizing what Kurt had asked. “They work here. I did want to know if your dad was doing okay though.”

“No change,” Kurt told him, sinking back into his chair. “Thank you for your concerns.”

“And how are you doing?” Artie asked. “This must be… really stressful. I can’t even imagine, really.”

Kurt shrugged. Then, after a pause, “No prayers, then?”

“Nah,” Artie said. “I’m agnostic myself.”

“Agnostic? So you don’t know what you believe?”

“Not quite. I believe in something, but I don’t assume to know what that something is.”

“So… you were raised without religion?”

“No, I was raised – I am being raised – in the Jewish faith.”

“So you’re like me then. Thinking for yourself. Pushing the bullcrap away.”

“I wouldn’t call it that,” Artie said. “I mean, I do push the superficial stuff away, I suppose, like full faith in the holy texts or blind faith in anything, I mean. But I mostly just listen to everything, and then take what feels right to me.”

“But you don’t believe in a god?”

“I don’t know. I believe in something. Something that I don’t and could never hope to understand, but something that I’m sure is there. And if some people call that something 'God'… well, that sounds like as good a name as any to me.”

“You have to believe or not believe. There’s… not some in between. You don’t get the easy way out.”

“Look Kurt, I’m just telling you what I believe. And what I know is, there’s no a or b, black or white, there’s everything in between. The world’s made up of spectrums, not boxes. And yeah, I guess I fall in that spectrum. But I don’t think that not choosing a box means I have it easy.”

Kurt looked Artie up and down. “Right,” Kurt said. “Sorry.” And then, “Why haven’t you given up on God? Of all people?” He paused to rephrase. “ ‘Given Up’ is probably the wrong way to say it. Why do you still believe?”

Artie shrugged. “Because I’ve never felt abandoned?” Artie tried. “I don’t know. Life being tough, or whatever, doesn’t equal evil, doesn’t mean there’s nothing out there, you know? I mean… when… when I’ve been in tough situations, when I was, well, dying, I guess, I asked for help. I guess I needed the belief that there was… something greater watching over me. And as an eight year old kid, that could’ve been anyone really, but the person, entity I remember asking… was God. And I remember I was so scared, so worried I was alone … I guess it was just comfort that I wasn’t.”

Artie’s phone lit up.

“You’re phone-“ Kurt said, nodding towards it.

“Oh, thanks,” Artie said, switching it off vibrate. “Sorry. It’s my parents. I forgot to pick up a chicken.”

“A chicken?” Kurt asked. “Random.”

“For Sabbath evening – tomorrow. My family always has dinner together.”

“Mine does too,” Kurt said. “Usually. But it’s not for Sab-? For religious purposes.”

“Sabbath. Yeah. I don’t know if mine actually is or not. A bit of both, I guess. But I can’t remember a Friday where we haven’t had dinner together. My Dad is cooking tomorrow’s dinner, and he always makes chicken. There’s a kosher supermarket near school, but with the game and all, I forgot to pick one up.”

Kurt nodded. “How’d the game go, by the way?”

“I don’t know how it ended – but we were winning until Sam got his shoulder busted.”

“Sam?”

“New kid. Quarterback. Chiseled.” Artie paused, unsure why he’d added that last bit. “Sorry,” he said. “I should get going.”

“Right,” Kurt said. “Good luck regarding the chicken.”

“Thanks,” Artie said. And then: “Text me… or whatever, if you want to talk. Otherwise, we’re thinking of you and your dad. Sending our love.”

“Thanks Artie,” Kurt said.

Artie nodded at his friend, and headed off.


End file.
